5 Best Jewelry Engraving Machines (Lasers & Tools) 2023 - CNCSourced (2023)

Whether you’re an amateur hobbyist or a professional jewelry maker, a jewelry engraving machine can be a great asset that opens up a whole world of creative possibilities.

Before you get started, though, you need to find the best jewelry engraving machine for you.

To help you out, we’ve created the ultimate guide to jewelry engraving machines. We explain how they work, what they’re used for, the different types of machines, and what you need to consider when making a purchase.

We also review the top jewelry engravers on the market, so you can pick out the right machine for you and get started today!

What is a Jewelry Engraving Machine?

A jewelry engraving machine does what it says on the tin – make shallow cuts into the surface of jewelry.

You can engrave all the commonly used metals in jewelry, from stainless steel and silver to gold and platinum.

There are two main uses of jewelry engraving machines.

One is for design purposes and personalization, the latter being particularly popular for adding messages to loved ones or special dates to pieces of jewelry.

The second main application of jewelry engraver machines is for hallmarking and adding serial numbers in the professional jewelry industry.

Types of Jewelry Engraver

There are two main types of machines and tools you can use to engrave jewelry – a handheld engraving tool and a laser engraving machine.

Let’s take a look at each type so you can decide which is best for you.

Handheld Engraving Tool

The cheapest and most basic option is to go for a handheld engraving tool, often referred to as engraving pens due to their shape.

These are typically powered by batteries and have a tip made of very tough material, such as diamond or carbide.

With these engraving pens, you can engrave jewelry by hand.

On the plus side, they’re very cheap and easy to get started with – most cost around $20. They’re also ideal if you’re an amateur engraver looking to get into the hobby, or if you just prefer the creative aspect of working by hand.

On the downside, you have to practice a fair amount to develop the skill to engrave effectively with these tools, as any tiny slip or knock will negatively affect your work.

Laser Engraver

The second option is to go for a laser engraver.

These are typically desktop-sized machines that use high-powered lasers to make fine and precise engravings into metal.

A laser metal engraving machine can offer jewelry makers many benefits over a handheld tool due to its high precision.

You create your designs using CAD (computer-aided design) software, which is now widely used in jewelry design.

You then convert your design to g code using CAM (computer-aided manufacturing) software, send the code to the machine, and then the laser engraver does the rest.

On the downside, laser engravers are a lot more expensive than engraving pens, with the cheapest going for around $200 but the best machines costing upwards of $500.

There’s also a learning curve, both with the machine itself and the software. But with a little perseverance, a laser engraver can produce much more accurate and consistent results.

How Does a Jewelry Engraving Machine Work?

Engraving pens work in a pretty simple way – the batteries cause the carbide or diamond tip to spin at rapid speeds, and due to these materials being extremely tough, the speed combined with the pressure when it’s pressed onto a material allows it to make shallow cuts into metals.

Laser engravers use compressed, highly concentrated beams of light which burn away the surfaces of materials, resulting in shallow indentations.

A more advanced form of laser engraving is fiber laser engraving.

Fiber lasers are more powerful because whereas a regular engraver projects the laser directly from the diodes onto the workpiece, in a fiber engraver the beam is passed through optical fibers first.

These fibers are thin, transparent, flexible glass rods that internally reflect the laser beam, causing it to become pumped with excited photons.

This results in a powerful build of energy which is then focused as it goes through the laser lens, making for much finer, more precise engravings. However, fiber lasers are much more expensive than regular laser jewelry engraving machines.

Best Jewelry Engraving Machines

Now let’s take a look at the best laser engravers for jewelry, starting with the most affordable.

Ortur Laser Master 2 Pro S2-SF – Best Jewelry Laser Engraver for Beginners

• Price: Check price at Ortur official store here / Check here on Amazon

The Ortur Laser Master 2 Pro 2S-SF is one of the most popular laser engravers on the market and is perfect for engraving jewelry.

A great laser engraver needs to offer two main things – speed and accuracy – and this model does just that.

The max engraving speed is 3,000mm/min, so it’s ideal for working on large pieces and for mass engraving smaller pieces. In fact, this is around twice the speed of some similar price laser engravers.

It’s also a pretty precise laser, with a compressed 0.12×0.15mm laser spot that makes very high-quality cuts into your jewelry.

It has a very wide laser power range of up to S1000 thanks to the 32bits motherboard, which is significantly wider than the up to S255 range you get with 8bits laser engravers.

This means you have a lot more choice in the fineness of the engravings you can make.

The engraving area is 400x400mm, which gives you more than enough space to work on all types of jewelry projects, from rings and necklaces to bracelets. This affordable jewelry engraving machine is made up of an aluminum frame with structured cabling, and it’s very stable and smooth to operate.

Another aspect that makes the Ortuer Laser Master 2 Pro S2-SF a great choice for beginners is the numerous safety features.

These include an emergency stop button that instantly shuts the machine off, as well as a flame detection system for that extra peace of mind.

It will also automatically turn off if the machine is knocked or the computer crashes during engraving.

It’s super easy to put together, as it comes in preassembled parts that you can put together in ten to twenty minutes. You can use this engraver with a variety of popular software, including LaserGRBL and LightBurn, both of which can be used to design jewelry pieces as well as design engravings.

Atomstack X7 Pro – Best Engraver for Serious Hobbyists & Small Business Owners

• Price: Check here on Amazon

The Atomstack X7 Pro has several advanced features that make it ideal for serious hobbyists and professional engravers.

For starters, the ultrafine compression spot of 0.06×0.06mm results in extremely precise engraving. For reference, that compression spot is more than half as fine as that of the Ortur Laster Master 2 Pro S2-SF.

This machine uses an innovative combination of two 5W lasers into one powerful, extremely stable 10W laser. It has a very high sintering temperature of 1200°C, making for incredibly clean cuts on metal, and it’s capable of reaching seriously impressive engraving speeds of 11,000mm/min.

One of the things we like best about the Atomstack X7 Pro is that it supports offline engraving.

It comes with a touchscreen controller with an ergonomic design that you can use to set up offline engravings, which you can magnetically attach to the machine while not in use.

Not only does this allow you to engrave without a computer, but it also means you can build engraving groups and run multiple machines at once to increase production rates.

This desktop jewelry engraving machine has a working area of 410x400mm, but you can upgrade to 850x410mm with the extension kit for an extra $119.99.

It’s compatible with similar software to the Ortur engraver, LaserGRBL and LightBurn being the most popular choices.

OMTech FM7979-30S 30W – Best Fiber Jewelry Engraver for Large Businesses

• Price: Check price on Amazon here

The jewelry laser engraving machines we’ve covered so far use standard lasers, but the OMTech FM7979-30S 30W is a fiber laser engraver.

This means it’s significantly more precise, faster, and durable, but, as you can see from the price, it’s also a lot more expensive.

In the OMTech FM7979-30S 30W, this results in a laser with an incredibly small spot size of just 20nm that’s capable of cutting metals up to 2mm deep. This laser also has a really long tool life of 100,000 hours, making it perfect for larger businesses with intense production rates.

This jewelry engraving machine comes with a built-in workspace grid with removable position bars, which makes it easy to precisely place materials and keep them secure while engraving.

It also supports a rotary axis (which you have to buy separately), which is perfect for engraving large curved jewelry pieces like bangles.

The FM7979-30S 30W is compatible with programs like AutoCAD, Adobe Illustrator, and CorelDraw, so you can take your pick from the best CAD and CAM software.

Although it may be a more advanced machine, it’s still very intuitive and easy to set up and use.

The high-speed galvanometer drive system makes focusing the lens very simple, and once adjusted the red dot locator and scanner calibrate for a quick and precise focus setup.

This version of the FM7979-30S has a 200x200mm working area and an engraving speed of up to 7,000mm/s. If you want a larger 300x300mm area and more power you can bag the 50W for $5,799.99, or you can save some cash by going for the smaller, less powerful 20W for $3,0999.

If you prefer to use a handheld laser engraver pen, this is our top pick.

Utool 24W Engraver – Good Cheap Handheld Jewelry Engraver

Price: $24.97 — Check here on Amazon

The Utool 24W is a really impressive handheld jewelry engraver.

This powerful engraver has a tungsten carbide tip so you can engrave even the hardest metals like stainless steel, and it comes with three spare tips you can swap tools once the tip starts to wear.

We’re particularly big fans of the ergonomic design and rubber handle which makes it really comfortable to use, even for longer engraving jobs.

There are five different speed levels, so you can pick the one that’s best suited to your skill level and required production rate. You can also choose from five different depth levels for making thinner and deeper engravings.

Dremel Lite 7760– Best Handheld Engraver

Price: $54.97 — Check here on Amazon

If you’re looking for a more premium hand rotary tool, we recommend the Dremel Lite 7760.

This tool is extremely popular among users, with a 4.6 Amazon rating from more than 7,000 reviews, which gives you an idea of how good it is.

It has a 1.8” collet and thanks to the patented EZ twist nose cap, you can easily swap tools without even needing a wrench.

You can adjust the speed from 8,000 to 25,000RPM, giving you plenty of room for maneuverability, and the 360-degree soft grip materials help prevent your hand from aching.

Whereas the Utool runs off batteries, the Dremel has a rechargeable battery and comes with a USB charger, which saves you the time and money of constantly replacing batteries.

Buyer’s Guide – What to Look for in a Jewelry Engraver

Size

When buying a jewelry engraver, size refers to both the total size of the machine and the working area. You need to find one that is small enough to fit in your workspace but also offers a large enough working area for you to comfortably work with the materials and products you want.

Precision

Arguably the most important aspect of choosing a laser engraver is the engraving precision it provides. After all, most people in this hobby or profession will be looking to make very fine, accurate engravings.

You want to pay attention to the laser’s spot compression – the smaller it is, the more precise engravings you’ll be able to make.

Fiber laser jewelry engravers provide the most precise cutting.

Power

Again, power can refer to two different things in relation to jewelry laser engravers – the power of the laser itself and the power the machine requires.

For example, the Atomstack X7 Pro’s 10W laser is double the 5W lasers used in many more basic machines, and it offers significantly more powerful, cleaner cuts on metal.

As you can also see from our reviews, different engravers require different wattage (W).

More robust, powerful machines use higher wattage, but they also use up significantly more electricity and need an adequate power supply, so make sure you can provide that before laying your money down.

Ease of use

Usability is particularly important if you’re a beginner, as the last thing you want is an overcomplicated tool or machine that’s too difficult to use effectively.

We recommend reading user reviews to see what other people say about a machine’s usability, and also look out for features like the Atomstack X7 Pro’s touchscreen controller that makes for super intuitive offline engraving.

As well as the usability of a machine itself, you should also find out what software it’s compatible with beforehand so you can be sure you can use it with your preferred programs.

Price

As you can see from the machines and tools we’ve listed, the price of jewelry engravers can vary widely.

However, the ones we’ve reviewed all certainly offer good value for money, which is key. As is the case with any type of tool or machine, the precision and quality improve with the more you spend, so bear this in mind when making your decision.

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